


Home for Christmas

by backtothepast (Sherlocked_Gallifreyan)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 09:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlocked_Gallifreyan/pseuds/backtothepast
Summary: Castiel reflects on his lack of family and, after a conversation with a child and some deliberation, decides to visit the Winchesters for Christmas.





	Home for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted 20 June 2013

Castiel felt out of place amidst the cheery Christmas decorations. He pushed through the crowd, chin tucked against his chest. Normally Christmas wasn’t such a bad holiday. Last Christmas had been an enjoyable one, but so much had happened since then. He feared that, in his efforts to protect them, he’d driven away the last remnants of his family.

A brightly-colored billboard caught his attention. It depicted a happy family sitting around a table, eating Christmas dinner and advertised napkins, claiming that this brand was tough enough for all the wine and frosting a family could throw at it. Castiel looked away from the billboard, not wanting to be reminded of what was missing this year.

Searching for a distraction from a feeling he couldn’t name, Castiel sat on a nearby bench and watched the ebb and flow of the crowd around him. He’d always enjoyed watching his Father’s creation. Parents laden with bags of gifts for their kids mingled with business people in suits and people on their own this year. With the exception of a few dark blotches, there was a general air of good will.

A little girl, no more than seven or eight years old, and her mother, an irritable woman immersed in a phone conversation, caught his attention. The little girl said something to her mother and wandered off. Castiel assumed this was more a courtesy on the little girl’s part as her mother didn’t respond to her. She walked over to the homeless man on the corner and offered him what little money she had left. Acts of unbridled generosity such as this were one of the things Castiel loved so much about humans. Seeing Castiel watching her, she waved. He returned the gesture. Apparently she’d missed the lecture about talking to strangers as she walked completely out of her mother’s sight and sat next to him on the bench. Her mother didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m Anne,” she said.

“Castiel,” he said. “Shouldn’t you have told your mother?”

“She and daddy are arguing again,” Anne said casually. “And besides, she thinks I can take care of myself. Don’t you have a family?” 

“Not anymore,” he said. “They’re safer without me.” He hesitated before adding, almost in an undertone, “Probably.”

“I don’t know why they’d be safer without you, but they’d probably be  _ happier  _ with you there. And besides, my grandma always said that no one deserves to be alone on Christmas, no matter what they've done. But then, Grandma died and now I have to live with my mother," she said.

"Annie!" her mother called impatiently. She sounded annoyed, not worried, that her daughter had wandered away from her. "Time to go! Don’t make me late again."

"Coming, mommy!" Anne called reluctantly. "Merry Christmas, Castiel." She walked away, kicking at the snow on the ground as she went.

_ Maybe she's right, _ Castiel thought. He knew Sam and Dean were spending Christmas in a little motel a couple blocks to the south. But if he showed up uninvited, he feared would be interrupting their Christmas. He decided that he would walk to the motel and make his final decision there.

Castiel joined the crowd of people waiting to cross the street. Anne and her mother were long gone; they had probably managed to snag one of the few unoccupied taxis that still crawled by. When the walk signal flashed, Castiel kept to the edge of the crowd as he crossed the street.

Fifteen minutes later, he came to a small, clean-looking motel. A bell above the door jingled as he entered. "We're full," the receptionist said bluntly, not looking away from her computer screen. She most likely wasn’t doing anything work related. Castiel wondered if she had a family that she should be spending the holiday with.

"I'm looking for David Bartell and Richard Simms," Castiel said, using Sam and Dean's current pseudonyms.

Now she looked up. "You family or something?" she asked.

"Business partner. They told me I could find them here if I had spare time," Castiel said.

"Stationery must be a better business than I thought," the receptionist mused. "Room 12. You gonna need a key?" 

"Thanks. And no. I don’t plan on staying long," Castiel said as he walked down the green-carpeted hall.

Standing before Room 12, he hesitated. He still wasn’t sure about this. On an impulse, he knocked.

 

xxxxxxxx

 

Dean glanced at Sam. "You expecting company?" he asked in an undertone. Sam shook his head. The brothers grabbed their guns, and Dean cautiously approached the door. Glancing back at Sam to make sure he was ready, Dean opened the door.

He stared slack-jawed at their unexpected guest. Castiel was scruffier than he’d ever seen him and looked ready to run, but he was alive. "Cas?" he asked incredulously. Behind him, he heard Sam set his gun down and tucked his own gun, safety engaged, in the waistband of his jeans.

"Hello, Dean," Castiel said, glancing toward the exit at the end of the hall. Before he could move, Dean pulled him into a rough hug. Caught a big off guard by the suddenness of the gesture, Castiel stood unmoving for a moment.

"You son of a bitch" Dean said fondly, shakily. "I thought you were dead!"

"Not dead," Castiel said, wrapping his arms around Dean. Dean clapped the angel twice on the shoulder, then broke the embrace.

"Come in," Sam said as Dean moved out of the doorway.

Dean closed and locked the door behind him, and Castiel saw the little Christmas tree in the corner of the room. It was undecorated and looked almost like they’d found it in someone’s trash, but it was still theirs. Sam offered him a glass of some sort of liquor and Castiel accepted it, happy that he hadn’t decided to stay away. They were his family, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> There were some plot holes and characterization issues that needed to be addressed.  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9410435/1/Christmas


End file.
